fix mbr

Hi all,
Is there a way to fix the mbr on a laptop running Win 98. I have the hard
drive out and attached to my pc as a removable disk. I can see everything
in the hard drive but when it is in the laptop, it cannot find the boot
files.

thanks

--
Lorne

Here is what I always post, when MBR is mentioned...

Eject any floppy or CD left in a drive. Does it still happen? Then...

I guess do go into BIOS first, to see settings weren't mussed that may
upset the "geometry" of it. I don't know what you might look for, but I
have two guesses...

(1) I guess "Reset to defaults & exit" is a viable choice.
(2) I suppose that means it will Auto-Detect the hard drives.

Here is what I know of the MBR and partition boot sectors.

"Fdisk /mbr" will restore Microsoft "boot code" to the Master Boot
Record of the boot HDD, usually the Primary Master. (This perhaps should
not be done, if you have a drive overlay in the MBR or if you suspect a
boot sector virus. The drive overlay would have to be restored in the
first case.) Boot code in the MBR, as I understand, searches the
partition table, also in the MBR, for the one that is Active. The boot
sector of the Active partition is hard-coded with the name of the
OPERATING SYSTEM that the boot code must load. For Win98, that OS is
IO.sys (DOS), which eventually leads to Windows. The other portion of
the MBR, the partition table, normally is not disturbed by "Fdisk /MBR".
The partition table contains the dimensions of the partitions and is
updated only when the partitions are created or resized. However, /MBR
may combine multiple partitions into a single one. It will do so, if it
discovers a missing End-Of-Sector marker (55AA) in the MBR sector. This
may result in a "mess of goo", says Blanton, if you had multiple
partitions, per
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=149877
Boot Record Signature AA55 Not Found

(1)
(a) Hold Ctrl as you boot for the Startup Menu, if it hasn't already
been activated at "START, Run, MSConfig, Advanced button". Select to
boot to the "Command Prompt Only" (DOS).

.......Start...Quote from Windows 98 Secrets (Livingston/Straub).....
Ctrl or F8: Starts the Windows 98 Startup Menu. You need to hold down
the Ctrl key before the DOS bootup process begins. If you have quick
fingers you can press the F8 key in between the end of the power-on self
test & the beginning of the DOS bootup phase.
.......End........

(b) Alternatively, get a Startup Diskette from
http://www.bootdisk.com/ , if you don't already have one from "Control
Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Startup Disk tab". Put the diskette in &
turn on the computer.

(2) Enter "DIR C:". Did you get a listing or an error message?

If a listing, then... things to consider....

(1) Perhaps enter "SYS C:".

This will copy certain system files (IO.sys, Command.com & perhaps
MSDOS.sys) from the Startup Diskette to C:\. (It also sets the BPB drive
number to HD0, so that it is now in the bootstrap. It does so, no matter
whether it is HD0. To boot it, one must still move it to be HD0,
however.) You may now be able to boot to Windows, if all folders are
intact. If not, some further adjustment need be done to "MSDOS.sys",
that was copied to C:\. The floppy has just a shell of it. Well, remove
the floppy & boot.

Oh gosh! Here are some warnings from Jeff Richards, MS MVP W95/W98,
about "SYS C:". DON'T DO IT, he says, if:

(a) "Major errors were reported in Scandisk."
(b) "A drive is moved from one machine to another", because of the next
two, maybe.
(c) "The BIOS setting for a drive is changed (eg, LBA to LARGE)."
(d) "A drive that uses overlay software is operated without the overlay
loaded."

(2) Enter "FDISK /MBR"
This will rewrite the code portion of the Master Boot Record,
leaving the Partition Table untouched, except it may muss the partition
table, if there is a missing End-Of-Sector marker (55AA), per
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=149877
Boot Record Signature AA55 Not Found

Here are the warnings against it...

(a) If you have a boot sector virus, you may lose access to all
partitions. Then
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html MBRWork "might" help to
recover them.

(b) If you have "overlay" code in the MBR, e.g., EZ-BIOS, Maxblast, a
boot manager, then that will need to be reestablished afterwards.
http://www.aefdisk.com/ FDISK & Boot Manager
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q245/1/62.ASP Overlay
Utility & FDISK

(c) FDISK may be buggy. So? Use MBRWork to do it, or
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q263044
Latest FDISK, hoping this one doesn't have any bugs. (But it doesn't
solve the 55AA thing.)

(d) If for some reason the "geometry" setting in BIOS does not match the
hard drive, then any write to the drive may be destructive. So, go into
BIOS and have it "automatically detect" the proper setting. (If you can
DIR the drive in DOS, then you have proven the geometry is probably all
right, though Blanton has said it may not be so under a certain rare
circumstance.)

(3)
(a) Boot to DOS. (Hold CTRL as you boot for the Startup Menu, & select
"Command Prompt Only".)

(b) Scandisk /Checkonly
Might be wise to know beforehand what it intends to fix. Will
display on screen & get written to "C:\Scandisk.log".
NOTE: Steps (b) & (c) may take QUITE a while to complete.

(c) Scandisk
Let it fix, if it didn't sound horrible. Otherwise, post what it
said.

In Dos, you may see "C:\Scandisk.log" this way...

EDIT C:\Scandisk.log
Alt-F-X (pressed separately) to exit EDIT. (TAB to traverse buttons.)

........Start......of URLs of Glee..........
You should run the diagnostics for the brand of hard drive that is in
the computer.

If you don't know what brand the drive is, you can download the
limited-use free
edition of OnTrack Data Advisor from this location:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

When you click the download link on that page for Data Advisor 5.0 Free
edition, you
will be taken to a page to register with the OnTrack site, then you will
be able to
download the diskette creator file.

The downloads are diskette creators. They are to be run once from a
working Windows
system and will guide you through the process of extracting the Data
Advisor onto a
3.5" floppy disk.

Download and Use Instructions:
http://www.ontrack.com/dataadvisor/downloadinfo.asp

Hard Drive Diagnostic Programs by Vendor:

OnTrack Data Advisor:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test:
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools:
http://support.wdc.com/download/
Quantum/Maxtor PowerMax:
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
Seagate SeaTools:
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html
Download:
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html
http://www.seagate.com/support/seato...toold_reg.html
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
............End......of quote.........


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"lorne" wrote in message
...
| Hi all,
| Is there a way to fix the mbr on a laptop running Win 98. I have the
hard
| drive out and attached to my pc as a removable disk. I can see
everything
| in the hard drive but when it is in the laptop, it cannot find the
boot
| files.
|
| thanks
|
| --
| Lorne
|
|

Do not attempt to fix the drive while it is in the desktop, as you do not
know whether the geometry is the same or different. When installed in the
laptop, can you boot to DOS from a floppy and see the folders and files on
the C drive OK (eg, DIR C ? Run Scandisk and check that the file system
is valid. Then do FDISK /Status and confirm that the partitions are OK. If
everything checks out, you can do SYS C: to reinstall the boot files, or
FDISK /MBR to repair the boot record. The exact fix depends on the errors
message you are getting at boot time.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"lorne" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Is there a way to fix the mbr on a laptop running Win 98. I have the hard
drive out and attached to my pc as a removable disk. I can see everything
in the hard drive but when it is in the laptop, it cannot find the boot
files.

thanks

--
Lorne

"lorne" wrote in message ...
Hi all,
Is there a way to fix the mbr on a laptop running Win 98. I have the hard
drive out and attached to my pc as a removable disk. I can see everything
in the hard drive but when it is in the laptop, it cannot find the boot
files.

thanks

Jeff's advice on target for several reasons. Laptops typically use a
hidden partition to hold some BIOS info regarding CDROM access and
other hardware settings, destroy it and you'll need the setup CD from
the laptop maker which is often not available anymore.

Fdisk /mbr is not safe to run on the laptop's drive for the above
reason. I suspect that the version of fdisk on the setup CD is
different from the standard 98 version of fdisk taking into account
the hidden partition where the standard 98 needs no stinking hidden
partitions. I'm thinking MS Fdisk won't do /mbr on any drive that
isn't C: so you can't do what you want to while the drive is in
the desktop anyway? Why take the chance?

Sys C: while the drive is in the laptop should be a much safer
approach to getting it to boot. I'd visit the laptop's maker's
site and get everything pertaining to setup and/or Restore CDs
that they ever made for it. Those CDs should have come with
the Laptop when you bought it.